Plating device for knitting machines



2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR Addison A./%Ore,

MVQ

ATTORNEY A. A. MOORE Feb. 23, 1932.

FLATING DEVICE FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed March 2, 1931 Wl NESSES Feb. 23, 1932. A. A. MOORE 1 PLATING DEVICE FOR KNITTING'MACHINES Filed March 2, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2' INVENTOR Add/i502 A.M0Ore,.

ATTORNEY Patented m, 23,1932

UNITE-D STATES PATENT oFFlcs Anmson' A. moons, or 41.3mm, NORTH canonnu mrme nnvrcn' non melanomas Application fled ma 2, 1981. Serial no. 519,586.

' This inventi' n relates to" improvements 1n knittmg mac es, and it consists of the constructions, combinations and arrangej 7 mentsherein described and claimed.

5 An object of the invention is to provide a L plating device for use in conjunction with gcircular hosiery. knitting machines, the structural characteristics of the device and its combination with the'machine being such as to-successfully plate the heels and toes of clrcular knit hosiery so that these parts afe similar in appearance to the leg and instep of the stockin but have theadvantage of a prac ically invisible reinforcementat-areasona lylowcost.v -A further object of the invention is to es tablish a proper setting of the yarn carrier in reference tothe mouthpiece especially for the counter-clockwise motion of the needle 9 cylinder, so as to insure an avoidance of twisting the threads during this particular phase of I the reciprocationofthe needle cylinder while knitting heelsv and toes.

oltlher objects and advantages will appear in t e which Fi 1 is a-plan view of a fragment of a knitting machine particu-. larly illustrating the improved "mouthpiece and yarn carrier, illustrating the separation Figure 5 is a plan view similar to Figure .1, illustrating-the change in position of the threads and the maintenanceof separation thereof upon reversal of the machine for clockwise rotation: Figure 6' is a-detail vfront elevation ofthe structure in Figure 5. 4 Figure 7 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the line 7- '-7 of Figure 1, the yarn carrier especially being shown in-ele- 'vation. V 7 i Figure 8 is aperspective viewof the improved yarn carrier.

, thread knitting following specification, reference. being had to the accompanying drawings in The instant disclosure of. the invention is in connection with a circular knitting inachine such as used forknitting seamless hosiery and the like, but this is not to be regarded asa limitation of the use of the invention because it can be used equally well with similar types ofmachines adapted for producing w at is own as split foot type goods.

In knitting the high class hosiery of mod-- ern'demands the necessity of using fine and high-priced materials has followed as a natural result. It is obviously highly desir-,

able to' preserve the fine appearance of the leg and inste in the generally hidden heel and toe. of't e stocking, yet toincorporate the reinforcing material in the heels and toes at a lesser cost. a v

The heel and toe are desirably reinforced I in order to withstand the extra wear imposed on these parts, and. while plating, or 'two-' as it is sometimes called,

is known in circular knitting machines yet as far as known no circular knitting machlne hasbeen. adapted to plating heelsv and toes dunngthecharacteristic reciprocations of 7 the needle cylinder when knitting heels and toes for the fundamental reasonthat no adequate means has been devised for keepin the threads properly separated when shi ing from one angled position to the other- As is commonly known, in knitting a piece of plated goods one thread shows on the face of the goods while the other is concealed. In the drawings the thread 1 is the face-thread which-is exposed on the outer surfaceofthe stocking, including the heel and toe, while 2is the thread which is concealed inthe heel and toe, serving to reinforce these parts. A smooth appearance of the fabrictwhere the heel and toejoin the adjacent parts of the stocking is insured only by,av0iding .a twisting of the threads 1, 2 upon the reversal of the machine from rotary to reciprocatory lmitting. This is generally hard to do, and

especially so when the plating operation is ble in practice.

as its primary purpose the separation of the threads 1, 2m such a way that they cannot twist around each machine, and the mode by which thispurpose is accomplished is as follows :-A yarn carrier 3 (Fig. 8) is located in a substantially central or medial position (Figs. 1 and 5) in respect to the passageway 4 (Fig. 4-.) of a mouthpiece 5, in so far as its horizontal dimension is concerned.

The description of the location of the yarn carrier 3 as being substantially central is made advisedly. t must be understood that some variation in position must be permissi- It is of utmost importance to so set the yarn carrier that it will assume a perfect plating position on the counterclockwise motion of the needle cylinder. This may require the location of the yarn carrier to one or the other side, butfor all practical purposes the location may be regarded as medial respecting the passageway of the mouthpiece, cons" ering the horizontal dimension of the latter.

This yarn carrier is deeply notched at 6 (Fig. 8) at a point near the extremity 7, the

proportions of the notch and resulting head 8 being approximately equal as regards length. The head 8 has a horizontal eye or so outlet 9 which opens at the extremity 7 and communicates with the notch 6 for the face yarn 1. Since this yarn is threaded through the eye'9 from behind it follows that the notch 6 must be sufficiently large to provide room.

Incidentally the notch 6 spaces the horizontal eye 9 from a vertical eye 10 in the body of the carrier 3. This eye guides the thread 2. This separation of the eyes 9, 10 places the backing threadof yarn 2 in back of, the thread of face yarn 1. The eye 10 communicates with a relief 3 on the nether side of the yarn carrier 3,'this relief roviding the necessary room for the bac 'ng thread 2 (Fig. 7) in passing across the bottom of the mouthpiece either to one side or the other. 7

The bdttom of the mouthpiece 5 with which the yarn carrier 3 coacts is decidedly 50 angled toward the right on its front wall rtion or outlet and delivery edge as at 11 (Fig. 3). The right end of the edge 11 becomes one wall of a channel .12 which is COIII'. pleted by a separator 13. This separator is nothing more than a rong or;point stationed on the right side of directed toward ing to keep yarn 1 (Fig. 5) when the knitting machine makes its clockwise turn.

On the side of the passageway 4 opposite to the channel 12 the wall of the mouthpiece has a pronounced-undercut 14 (Figs. 3 and 4). This undercut matches the function of 55 the channel inasmuch as it enables a prothe left side, its purpose beother upon reversal of the the mouthpiece 5. and

the yarn 2 separated from the nounced separation of the thread 2 from the threadl when the latter drops into the undercut, just as occurs when the thread 2 drops and instep of the stocking are knitted by a continuous rotation of the. needle cylinder; I

but the heel and toe are knitted by reciprocations of the needle cylinder, that is to say partturns in opposite directions. These 're-' ciprocations require constant reversals threads 1, 2, so that they first angle off to the left to the knitting point 15 (Fig. 1), then to the right to the knitting point 16 (Fig. 5). As far as known at present it is not possible to plate heels and toes because of the lack of means to'separate the yarn onthe backward motion (Fig. 5). It ishere that the separator 13 vantage. The backing thread 2 will drop into the channel 12 (Fig. 5) and be held apart or away from the face thread 1 by the intervening separator 13. On the other hand, the backing thread 2 drops into the'undercut 14 of the has its adof the needles 17. The leg and again becomes adequately separated from the face yarn 1.

In either case a maximumseparation or;

divergence is maintained between threads 1 and 2,

vertical dispositions of than the outgoing part of the thread in the eye 10. The yarn carrier 3 therefore serves to maintain a vertical separation of the threads, while the elements 12, 13 and 1 f maintain a horizontal separation. Consenot entirely because of the specific shape of themouthpiece 5 but also because" quently the threads 1 and 2 are always held sufficiently far apart to avoid contact with each other, and so are prevented from twisting. This, in turn, enables the incorporation of making of plated areas during the process fabric with a circular knitting machine.

The position of the separator 13 is not strictly confined to its illustrated position on the mouthpiece 5. A duplicate of it may be employed in lieu of the undercut 14, or the separator may be, used at any necessary place on the mouthpiece 5 for the purpose of separating the two different yarns.

- Very often the tension of the yarn requires careful regulation.- It is where unequally tensioned threads come in contact with each other-that twisting is bound to result. By virtue of keeping the 1, 2 so decidedly separated, the manner'of tension requires little or no consideration. As

a matter of practice each thread is controlled face and back threads by separate take-ups, and even tension is applied to eliminate the undesired slack.

While the construction and arrangementv of the improved plating device for knitting machines is that of a generally preferred form, obviously modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.

I claim 1. In a knitting machine having a mouthpiece with a passageway directed toward aseries of needles in said machme, and a yarn series of needles said series of needles being capable of both circumrotary and reciprocatory motion, a multiple thread yarn carrier situated in reference to the mouthpiece to assume a confronting relationship to the se ries of needles, said yarn carrier having spaced eyes for guiding plural threads to the knitting point of the needles; means incorporated in the mouthpiece, substantially at the outlet of the passageway and at each side thereof to receive one of the threads both during circumrotary and reciprocatory motion of the needles to maintain a diverging I relationship of each thread to the other.

3. In a knitting machine having a mouththreads to the needles; an undercut in one side wall of the assageway enablin a recession of the bac g thread from t e face thread during strokes of the needle series in one direction, and a separator on the mouthpiece adjacent to the other wall of the pa-s- 10 sageway providing a channel for the recession of the backing thread from the face thread on the reverse strokes of the needle series.

5. The combination of a mouthpiece hav- 76 ing a passageway defined by side walls and a bottom, the edgeof the bottom at the outlet. of the passageway being angled, a separator situated adjacent to one side wall and spacedfrom the angled edge to define a thread 80 channel, a pronounced undercut in the opposite side wall at the outlet of the passageway also to provide a thread channel, and a yarn carrier having a plural-eyed end extending into the passageway, close to the bottom of. the passageway and nearly to said angled edge.

6. A mouthpiece comprising sidewalls and a bottom defining a passageway, one edge of the bottom being angled and terminating 99 short of one of the side walls, a separator prong extending from saidside wall and partly along the angled edge, said separator being spaced from the edge to define a channel adjacent to said side wall, and an underi cut in the opposite side wall, opening in said passageway and adjoining'said angled edge. .1

ADDISON A. MOORE.

piece with a passageway directed toward a series of needles, said needles being capable of reciprocatory motions as in knitting heels and toes, anda yarn carrier extending into the mouthpiece; said yarn carrier having a spaced pair of eyes. situated in the passageway, the eye nearest the needle series being disposed horizontally and the eye farthest from the needle series being disposed vertically, respectively to guide face and backing threads to the needles, and means on each side of the passageway adjacent to'the needles coacting with the vertical eye to alternately catch the backing thread upon every stroke ofthe needle series in opposite directions during reciprocatory knitting to separate the backing thread from the face thread an maintain a diverging relationship. 4. In a knitting machine having a mouthpiece with a passageway directed toward a series of needles capable of reciprocatory motion as." in knitting heels and toes,'a yarn carrier extending into the mouthpiece having spaced eyes for guiding face and backing 

